Tag Archives: Tae Kwon Do

• The summer before going to high school terrified me. I had anxiety in anticipation of five more years of bullying. In the first week of my freshmen year I breathed a sigh of relief after realizing all the kids that had bullied me went to a different high school. I started with a clean slate, and established new friendships.

• I had five great years at Aldershot High school. I made friends that have lasted a lifetime. I was also lucky to have an older cousin, and a few tough friends to create a protective aura throughout middle school. While swimming throughout my teens I decided to try my hand at Karate, and a bit of weight lifting in between to stay in shape. In hindsight we were all lucky to be in a relatively calm social environment in Burlington, Ontario compared to the level of youth aggression experienced in metropolitan cities.

• Physics was my passion as far back as high school. It’s thanks to Mr. V. Cantlon, my grade 13 physics teacher from Aldershot Secondary School. He was also my favorite teacher from middle school. The subject wasn’t particularly my strong point, but I felt I enjoyed the subject enough to pursue it into my undergraduate studies.

• My other favorite teacher was Mrs. L. Tessler, my ninth and eleventh grade English teacher, giving me the passion to express myself in words. Mrs. Tessler had the most wickedly teaching voice. It hypnotized me every time I listened to her, going as far as falling in love with her voice. I always wanted to impress her with my writing skills. But I could never seem to exceed an 80% grade on my essays. It wasn’t until I read the words of a 90% English student that I realized what it takes to get to the next level.